Here’s Jordan Sadler with his fantasy premier league budget players article where he looks at cheap players in each position to help you start filling the gaps in your tinkering. He also shows us his first draft team.
fantasy premier league budget players – Jordan Sadler picks cheap players in each position
So Fantasy Premier League went live yesterday and so I thought I’d share my initial thoughts on some of the best budget players that I’ve noticed. These are only my initial thoughts, a lot will change over the coming weeks, certainly once pre season friendlies get into full flow but I hope this is helpful none the less. I have taken fixtures into account so certain players I may have missed off due to their poor early fixtures, this mainly applies to Newcastle and Brighton players.
Goalkeepers:
Fabianski (West Ham) £4.5m
West Ham are my prediction for best of the rest this season (ie 7th) and so I do think Fabianski will be a great player to have in your team. He has clean sheet potential as well as good save potential. He had a 71% save percentage last season, 3rd in the league only behind Pope (£5.0m) and De Gea (£6.0m) and he saved 50% of penalties faced last season. West Ham conceded 10 penalties last season so that is another potential points source.
Begovic (Bournemouth) £4.5m
He rotates very well with Fabianski and I would expect Bournemouth to improve on their poor defensive performances from last season. He has a good start to the season in terms of fixtures so it’s a good time to judge whether they’ve improved defensiely or not definitely and if not then he can easily be switched.
McCarthy (Southampton) £4.5m
Rumours are he’s now the official new #1 and Forster has been transfer listed. Hughes is generally quite a defensively strong coach and Southampton before last season were always a very good defensive team. I think there is a lot of CS potential in the Southampton defence and they have a great start to the season in terms of fixtures.
Patricio (Wolves) TBA
He’s a very good goalkeeper who has plenty of Champions League and Europa League experience so it’s a great buy for Wolves. Wolves kept 24 clean sheets in the Championship last season so if he’s £4.5m then he’s definitely someone to consider.
My current view: Fabianski is a definite for me but I’m unsure of who to pick out of Begovic and McCarthy as I do feel McCarthy has more CS potential but Begovic the better corresponding fixtures. This will be one I shall ponder. I’ll wait for Patricio’s price before making any decision about him.
Defenders:
Kolasinac (Arsenal) £5.0m
He was a real disappointment last season but with Emery now coming in I can honestly see Kolasinac being Arsenal’s first choice LB. With Leno and Sokratis now signed and Torreira (a Kante style CDM from Italy) likely to follow, it should hopefully make Arsenal more solid at the back. He has very good attacking threat and hopefully will have good clean sheet potential as well. He’s certainly one to watch in pre season. City and Chelsea are his first two games of the season however so beware of that.
Trent AA (Liverpool) £5.0m
Most likely to be Liverpool’s first choice RB next season. He’s got great attacking potential and very good clean sheet potential as well as Liverpool have looked a lot more solid at the back since Van Dijk came in. They’ve also now bought two defensively strong midfielders in Keita and Fabinho so that can only help their clean sheet chances as well.
Douglas (Wolves) £5.0m
5 goals and 14 assists for the Wolves LB/LWB last season which is just an incredible return for a defender. It’s unlikely he can replicate that this season but with Wolves looking the strongest of the newly promoted sides in my opinion and with them keeping 24 clean sheets last season he’s certainly someone to keep a close eye on.
Daniels (Bournemouth) £4.5m
He has good attacking potential and even though Bournemouth were poor defensively last season I think his price more than makes up for that. Great pick if you want to rotate with another £4.5m defender and starts the season with good fixtures.
Cedric (Southampton) £4.5m
He has good attacking threat and finished the season relatively well under Hughes getting 3 assists and a goal in his last 10 games for Southampton. Could be a RWB as well if Hughes sticks with 3 at the back, I’d be very surprised if he isn’t first choice RB next season. Great fixtures to start the season as well.
Bednarek (Southampton) £4.0m
Finished the season well starting the last few games and could find himself at CB next season if Hughes sticks with 3 at the back. If they go to 4 at the back I don’t think he will play however as he seems to be behind Hoedt and Yoshida in the pecking order. I’m sure pre season will make Hughes’ preferred formation clear.
Wan-Bissaka (Crystal Palace) £4.0m
He was fantastic at RB for Palace while Ward was out, such mature performances for a 19 year old. He was unfortunately dropped when Ward was fit again but played at RB in the final game of the season and showed exactly why he should be starting at RB permanently as once again he was excellent. If he has a positive preseason it wouldn’t shock me to see him as first choice RB this season for Palace.
My current view: Trent will definitely be in my team as I think he’s great value and I’m a Liverpool fan… I think Cedric and Daniels are both great options as well with Wan-Bissaka a good 4.0 bench option. I will wait and see with Kolasinac but if he is first choice LB I will definitely try to get him in my team after GW2.
Midfielders:
Milivojevic (Crystal Palace) £6.5m
10 goals and 2 assists with 7 of his goals as penalties. Slight concern for me is his returns are very dependent on penalties but Palace seemed to get plenty of them last season so there’s no reason to think it’ll be any different this season especially with them having a player like Zaha.
Walcott (Everton) £6.5m
3 goals and 3 assists wasn’t a terrible return from Walcott in his half season at Everton but this was while playing under a very defensive manager. Now that Marco Silva has taken the reigns at Everton I’d expect their attack to be far more deadly. Walcott could easily be one of the bargains of the season at his price if he can hit anywhere near the heights of his peak 2012/13 season where he scored 14 goals and got 13 assists in 2300 minutes. Everton also have a great first 5 fixtures as well so he’s certainly one I’ll be keeping an eye on in preseason.
Jota (Wolves) £6.5m
17 goals and 5 assists for Wolves last season, commonly plays LW but does on occasion play as a CF as well. If he can get anywhere near his Championship returns this season then
he’s well worth the £6.5m and Wolves do seem to me like the most promising of the Championship sides.
Sessegnon (Fulham) £6.5m
16 goals and 8 assists for Fulham last season while playing nearly half of it at LB. In only 28 games at LAM/LW he scored 14 goals and got 6 assists and for most of that he was only 17. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t score double figure goals this season if he plays mainly at LW/LAM. Very big future ahead of this lad.
Deulofeu (Watford) £5.5m
Bought from Barcelona and used to play for Everton. He scored 5 goals and got 13 assists for Everton in the 2700 minutes he played for them. That would be a fantastic return for his value if he could replicate anywhere near that for Watford this season. 1 goal 1 assist for Watford in the 400 minutes he played for them last season so it shows he can score and assist. Likely will be the cheap option in my midfield.
Lookman (Everton) £5.5m
He had a great half season at RB Leipzig scoring 5 goals and assisting 3 in 576 minutes. He’s certainly someone to keep an eye on during pre season as if he can consistently return at even half that rate this season then he’s a bargain at £5.5m as that would still be double figure goals and high single figure assists.
Fraser (Bournemouth) £5.5m
8 goals 12 assists in 3700 minutes for Bournemouth over the last two seasons. He’s regularly their corner kick and free kick taker giving him plenty of goal and assist potential and he was one of Bournemouths best players last season. Only 24 and seems to be improving year on year so could be one to watch if you’re after that cheap 3rd or 4th midfielder.
Ibe (Bournemouth) £5.5m
2 goals 6 assists in 1900 minutes for Bournemouth last year which isn’t a terrible return. He has so much potential but doesn’t seem to be living up to it just yet however he’d be one I’d keep an eye on in pre season as if he can hit the ground running this season he could be great value if he can fulfill his potential.
Ince (Huddersfield) £5.0m
Only 2 goals and 1 assist in 2450 minutes in a disappointing season for Ince, he just doesn’t seem to be able to make the step up to the EPL unlike his Dad! I’ve included him because of his 14 goals 6 assists in 2016/17 for Derby in the Championship. Clearly he has goals in him so if he does manage to find form then he could be a great pick at £5.0m.
Masuaku (West Ham) £4.5m
3 assists while mainly played at LWB for West Ham last season but did play a few games at LM/LAM towards the end of the season which I’m assuming is why he’s classified as a midfielder. Not sure what his role will be now Pelligrini is manager but right now he’d be my pick at £4.5m assuming he’s a regular starter. Dreadful fixtures however so should only really be viewed as a 5th choice midfielder, at least for the beginning of the season.
There are other safer options than Ince and Masuaka like Kante (£5.0m), Matic (£5.0m) Ndidi (£5.0m), Stephens (£4.5m), Romeu (£4.5m) etc. but I just personally quite like the look of Ince and Masuaku as more risky options with potential higher reward.
My current view: I personally prefer Jota and Deulofeu right now and both will likely feature in my GW1 team if they have a good pre season. However, I do think the other options are still good value and certainly ones to watch in pre season as well. As my 5th midfielder I do like the look of Masuaku but again it all depends on pre season.
Forwards:
King (Bournemouth) £6.5m
Slightly underwhelming season for King last season with only 8 goals and 4 assists after such a good season in 2016/17. However, he did start to come into some good form near the end of the season with 4 goals in his last 7 games so if he can start the season the way he ended it then he could be very good value at his price.
Wood (Burnley) £6.5m
Finished the campaign off very well with 6 goals and an assist in 7 starts and 2 sub appearances. He scored 10 goals and got 1 assist in 1600 minutes last campaign which is a very good minutes per return for someone of his value. Similar situation as for King, if he can start the season the way he ended it then he could be great value.
Benteke (Crystal Palace) £6.5m
Poor season last season from Benteke with him only scoring 3 goals, though he did get 7 assists. The positives to take from that are however that his xG was over 11 goals and that he missed the second most “big chances” in the league so he was clearly in the right positions at the right times. If he can perform like in 2016/17 where he scored 15 goals and got 2 assists then he’ll be great value at £6.5m.
Austin (Southampton) £6.0m
Austin is your classic striker. They may not always be pretty but he gets goals and plenty of them. The issue with Austin is fitness. He is an injury risk but when he’s fit he’s well worth his price tag. 13 goals and 2 assists in 1900 minutes over the last two seasons which is a great return for the little amount of games he’s played. Someone definitely to watch.
I don’t personally feel there is much value or game time security in players under £6.0m for forwards. If you don’t want to play 3 forwards then you may just have to have bench fodder as your 3rd forward and hope for the best.
My current view: King and Wood are slightly better options than Benteke for me but Austin is certainly someone I’ll be keeping an eye on. I also like Arnautovic and Zaha who are £7.0m each but I’d deem them more as mid-priced fowards hence why I’ve not included them. A lot to think about for my 3rd forward but very early days yet. I’ll be keeping a close eye on friendlies to help me make my mind up.
My first draft
This is my first draft just to help you get started and give you some ideas:
With the plan in mind of switching Hazard to De Bruyne after GW1 and Daniels to Kolasinac after GW2. I’d also like to try and bring Aubameyang in at some point as I feel Aguero will eventually start sharing minutes with Jesus but I do think initially Aguero will get most of the minutes due to Jesus hopefully having an extended break because of the World Cup.
This draft will change a lot over the next month once we get to see players in action during pre season but I’m hoping this at least will help you pick your first team. I hope you found this article useful and have fun picking your teams!
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